The September bears are in rehab as the Pamplona Bull Run continued apace on a hump day. Equities punched higher as investors continue to put cash back to work buoyed by the rise in US industrial production and a 1 point gain in the NAHB building index. Financials were the outperformer, rising 3.4%.

Early doors today stocks were see-sawing after earnings misses from Oracle (ORCL) (stock is off 3%) and FedEx (FDX) and the US morning slew of data which was a bit of a mixed bag. There was a big jump in continuing claims and a small miss on the building permits number while housing starts were in line with expectations (at a nine month high) and 12k fewer new initial jobless claimants than were expected. Kodak looks like the big loser today (currently down 7%) after announcing that they are to raise $700mln by selling senior secured notes while homebuilders are bid (Beaver, Hovnanian etc). The indices have now turned positive after a better than expected print on the Philly Fed diffusion index (rising to 14.2, its highest level since July 2007). GE, Kraft (KFT), Alcoa (AA), steelmaker Nucor (on a Citibank upgrade) and Citibank itself are all looking bid

Today's Market Moving Stories

• This morning UK retail sales were softer than expected, remaining flat on the month. Bank of England inflation attitudes survey was unchanged at 2.4% from May. CBI Industrial Trends survey is stronger than expected, rising to -48.
• Asian equities broadly rallied, led by China (Shanghai composite index rose 2%), with the Nikkei also receiving support from two Japanese business surveys which suggest that economic recovery is continuing at a solid pace and that positive momentum will likely carry over to 4Q. This pro-risk environment continues to eat away at the dollar and Sterling which is fatigued by the Bank of England's never-ending supply of bombshells.
• Overnight in Japan, the Bank of Japan kept interest rates on hold but upgraded its assessment of financial conditions and the economy, citing improving exports and output which, it says, increases the chances its forecast of a moderate pickup early next year being met. The Bank also upgraded its view on financial conditions, saying they remain severe but are increasingly showing signs of improvement and noted that annual core consumer price falls would narrow in the latter half of the year to March 2010.
• Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii stated "there's no change in my thinking" that it's not the time to consider foreign-exchange intervention. Whilst Fujii has stated that he wouldn't rule out intervention under what he termed "really abnormal situations", he said that "the idea that the JPY should be cheaper for the sake of (Japan's) exporters is wrong."
• The Reuters Tankan index of Japanese manufacturers' sentiment rose 9 points to -33 in September from -42, improving for the sixth consecutive month from a record low of -78 in March. Separately, the government's tertiary activity index rose 0.6% mom in July following an increase of 0.2% in June.
• In China, Chen Dongqi, vice director of the macroeconomic research institute under the NDRC, stated that GDP is likely to grow 9% yoy in Q3 and to accelerate further to double-digit growth in Q4. He noted that the country's 2009 GDP target growth of 8% is sure to be reached.
• US Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus unveiled a proposal yesterday to overhaul the health-care system after trying for months to reach a bipartisan agreement on President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.